Phantogram Home For The Holidays

CLIFTON PARK >> Joshua Carter and Sarah Barthel are Saratoga’s hometown heroes in the music industry. Together, they are indie pop duo Phantogram.

Phantogram’s music is a unique combination of organic and synthetic sounds, with a spacey element created by Carter’s expert sampling skills and beat creations. Barthel’s vocals glide across the songs as the icing on the cake.

Phantogram will hit home base on their winter tour at 8 p.m. Dec. 7 at Upstate Concert Hall.

Special guests, Until the Ribbon Breaks and Weeknight, will open. Tickets are $18 in advance or $20 day of show and can be purchased at all Ticketmaster locations, the club box office, or at Northern Lights Smoke Shop on Fuller Road, Albany.

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WEQX favorites, the duo last played the Capital Region at the station’s Pearlpalooza festival in Albany last year.

Barthel recalls playing local venues like Kings’ Tavern and VFW halls in their early days on the Saratoga scene. “It’s a wonderful feeling to come back and everyone’s so proud of us,” she said.

Since their humble beginnings in Saratoga as Charlie Everywhere, the duo has gone on to gain national attention. Their music has been used in MTV shows and, most recently, their song “When I’m Small” is featured in a Gillette razor commercial.

Their latest single, “Lights,” will be heard by millions in the new Hunger Games film Catching Fire.

Phantogram caught on to the reality that they’d made it big when artists they once admired, such as Outkast and The Flaming Lips, were admiring them, Barthel said. “That’s when we knew we were doing something right.” Hanging out in Atlanta and Andre 3000 and Big Boi of Outkast asking them how they make the sounds in their music was the moment Carter and Barthel realized they were onto something fresh, new and special.

Many of these sounds that made them famous were recorded at Upstate New York’s own Edie Road Studios in Argyle. Even as the stars they’ve become, Phantogram still returns home to the rural barn-turned-studio to record their music, including their latest project.

Phantogram has a new full-length on the horizon titled “Voices,” due out in early 2014.

Carter said his favorite song off of the new release is “My Only Friend,” the last track of the collection. The song is based on a melody they would play together when they started working on new material, but they didn’t quite know what to do with it at the time. “We would just play it and smile at each other,” he said. When Barthel further developed the idea on piano and Carter created the beat, they knew they had created the grand finale for “Voices.” Carter said this beat is unlike any he’s done before, and gives the song a post-rock vibe. Carter said that fans will get a chance to hear this new Phantogram tone live at the Dec. 7 show.

Phantogram will soon be playing with a new full band at their live performances. Carter said that this helps to fill out their live sound and make the set more dynamic. Having more instruments on stage also breathes new life into the older songs they’ve always performed as a duo, Carter noted.

A couple of Saratogians living the musical dream, “I’ve always just wanted to play music and I feel very fortunate that I get to do it,” Carter said.

Barthel said her favorite part of being in Phantogram is making music with her counterpart. “I think one of my favorite things is that I get to share this whirlwind of an experience with my best friend. I think a lot of bands aren’t as lucky,” Barthel said.

Carter and Barthel moved to Brooklyn a few years ago, but are humbled every time they come home to play a show in the Capital Region. They thanked Saratoga Springs and the surrounding areas for their continued support over the years. “We’re really happy to be part of this whole music culture that has blossomed,” Carter said, noting that Phantogram will never forget where they got their start.